


Magical Days

by Turtlez



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Human Bill Cipher, M/M, Threats, magic shows
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-04
Updated: 2016-11-17
Packaged: 2018-07-12 02:41:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 15,740
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7081654
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Turtlez/pseuds/Turtlez
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Life is filled with mysteries and wonders, while living in a theater. Most of them, however, are attributed to Bill Cipher and his magic show.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

After months of waiting for the legendary performance, the day had finally arrived. Dipper Pines was finally going to see the world-renowned magic show that never failed to take his breath away. It was not often that he- or anybody else, for that matter- had the honor to witness the extraordinary performance. The rarity of the show was mostly attributed to his Great Uncle’s refusal to perform the magic show more than absolutely necessary- and considering that his great uncle Stan was the only one left from the original performers, he had the final say. Stan had decided many years ago to only perform the magic show every four months or so- and for some years he had completely neglected the performance.

Despite the glory days of the show having passed and gone, there were still a number of people who desperately wanted to see the performance. Most people who arrived, from all around the world, to watch the performance were lured to the theater by their curiousness. Most of them excited to witness the show that caused such an uproar thirty years ago, and still managed to be talked about decades later. The abundance of money still to be made from those certain individuals happened to be the only reason that Stan had not completely scrapped the show.

Admittedly, the magic show did not produce the same amount of fame and fortune from all those years ago. In reality, the performance had become a shell of its former self, and almost nothing like the rumors. A majority of the performance was composed of the most basic of tricks- all of them easily performed by any other amateur magician, in any other magical act; and there was nothing extraordinary about it- except the way that they were presented by Stan. His great-uncle's showmanship truly sucking in the audience and making them abandon their perceptions of reality- truly making them believe that magic was actually happening right in front of them.

Dipper adjusted himself in his seat, taking a quick survey of the theater. The lights were dimmed for the audience, while all of the spotlights was on the stage. He strained his eyes a bit to look around. The seats inside of the huge theater were more than half empty, filling up only the first few rows. The few members of the audience were mostly composed of children, their parents, and those that had time to spare. All of the children had their attention fixed on his Great Uncle, their eyes as wide as saucers while they tried to wrap their head around the mind bobbling acts happening before them. The adults, although not completely blown away by the acts, were still unable to look- it was clear that they could not decipher how his Great Uncle Stan performed his illusions.

To be completely honest, the show was entertaining enough on its own. It was only when compared to the rumors of the past that it would really disappoint the audience. Thankfully, there was no one in tonight's show that seemed to show any real disdain towards the simplicity of show. Not that their distaste would truly matter; since there would be, of course, no refunds even if there were any complaints. It was just the way that his Great Uncle ran his theater, which he had bought himself. All of the wealth that he had accumulated during the golden age of the show leading him to acquire his own theater, where he could run things his own way- and that’s just what he did. Although, his Great Uncle had given the theater a strange name: The Mystery Shack.

The Mystery Shack was settled on the best land that money could buy. The entire building reeked of elegance from entrance to exit; from the red velvet seats to the huge ornate chandeliers. It was huge enough to house many performers at once- and if any of the audience members got lost then they would be for hours without end. It served as no surprise that many performers, from all types of trades arts, would rent the space to perform their shows. It was the main reason that the Mystery Shack had become home to different acts, ranging from operas to comedies. As long as Great Uncle Stan was being paid enough then he would accept most of the offers sent his way. It was the theater’s greatest source of income- because if they were to solely rely on the magic show for money, then they would be left out on the streets in a moment's notice.

Dipper’s thoughts came to a screeching halt when the sudden need to scratch his head assaulted him. He resisted the urge as long as he could, hands clenching and unclenching at his sides, before he finally gave in- trying to discreetly scratch the scalp of his head to alleviate the itch brought on by the stupid wig. Dipper’s hatred for the wig on his head flared stronger with every passing second. The itchiness that the hair piece casted upon him seemed to never end. Dipper forced his hand away from his head with a hiss, when another audience member looked his way and wrinkled his nose in disgust. Dipper blushed and looked away, slumping in his seat. He wished that he did not have to disguise himself- but knew fully well that it was the only way to make the show’s illusion a reality.

  
Everyone had their role to play in the show- and some parts were more glamourous than others. Stan had assigned him to be the volunteer, who would be chosen for the last act. It was such a huge honor to be a part of the legendary performance, but the disguise ruined everything. Every time he wanted to participate he had to wear a wig and fake facial hair, so no one would be able to notice the family resemblance and call the sham- but just thinking about all the fake hair on him made him itchy all over. Dipper groaned, as he relented and scratched at the tuff of hair on his chin- the spot already burning with the annoying itchiness.

His twin sister, Mabel Pines, had been assigned a better role- since it involved no fake hair- of the beautiful assistant. It was a well known fact that every magical act needed a beautiful assistant to distract the audience from the tricks played on them- and Mabel played her part perfectly. Mabel's stage outfit was gorgeous; the perfect distraction. Her mid-thigh skirt was composed of three layers, each one a different color- purple, green, and orange, accompanied by ruffles. Her red corset, which was covered in glitter and star patterns, was placed over her cream-colored, short-sleeved, laced blouse. Her long, curly brown hair only had a simple, red headband that was the last touch to bring the outfit together. She didn't wear any shoes or socks, regardless of Dipper's protests.

Dipper's attention moved from the insistent itching all around his head to his family members on stage. His great uncle and Mabel had just finished another of their acts, and their faces were filled with so much joy. The sight was the main reason that Dipper loved watching the performance. Nothing made him happier than to see Great Uncle Stan and Mabel smiling. They both looked so alive and happy, every time they performed the act. Dipper let out a tense breath , smoothing out the fake beard. He tried to steal his nerves since he knew that his great uncle would call upon him in a few moments.

"Now, for my next act, I will need a volunteer from the audience." His great-uncle's voice boomed. Once the words were uttered, everyone lifted their hands in the air. The young children, wanting to be part of the experience; the adults, wanting to check the credibility of the magical performance. Dipper, however, raised his hand out of mere duty. He watched as his sister made a display of looking across the audience, before pointing at him. Dipper would never admit that it always excited him to go on the stage, even if it was for a little while- and he felt lucky that he got to be a part of the last act.

"Alright, sir," His great uncle said, once he made it onto the stage. "What's your name?"

"Tyrone." Dipper chose the name on the top of his head. He usually did. Sometimes he would take the names of one of Mabel's ex-lovers just to get back at her sometimes.

"Well then, Tyrone. This here is a little trick that comes in two parts. First, I'm going to hypnotize you. Then, I'm gonna levitate you." He looked at the audience and tapped the back of dipper's legs with his cane. "It shouldn't be too hard, considering how scrawny this man is."

Dipper tried hard not to roll his eyes, as the entire audience laughed at his expense. He only sent a very discreet glare towards Mabel, who was giggling on the side lines. Every time they did the act, there was a different comment about his appearance. It would usually make his self-esteem plummet, but no one other than his Great Uncle Stan and Mabel knew that it was him. Therefore, it made the experience bearable, because he knew it was all part of the act.

His favorite part of the show was that he had the chance to see the entire thing from the audience’s perspective. Even though, he knew and even set up for the illusions. Dipper had the chance to just fall into the fantasy. It definitely had to do with the way that Stan told his lies and made everyone question the impossible. He would never admit, however, that Stan's showmanship was the thing that kept the magic act alive. The only thing that he absolutely hated was the hypnosis part of the trick.

He watched as Stan took out his gold watch. He showed it off to the audience, letting them see that it was a completely normal watch. He then turned back towards him, "Now, sir. Watch this watch swing back and forth." His great uncle started to swing the watch from its equally gold chain back and forth like a pendulum. "The more you watch it the sleepier you will get." Dipper did his part and let his eyes start to droop and yawn. "The sleepier you get the more you will listen to what I tell ya to do" Once he closed his eyes, Stan started to snap his fingers in front of him. Dipper assumed that his great uncle was making faces at him or something else embarrassing as well because the audience just roared with laughter. He forced himself to keep his eyes closed.

"Just so you all don't think I'm pulling your leg. Let's make Tyrone do something that no one in their right mind would ever do." Dipper just knew that this was going to be horrible. "I know just the thing. Listen well, Tyrone I want you to act like a chicken." Dipper did as he was told. Clucking like a chicken, moving his arms like wings, and jotting his head, just to be a good sport. After making Dipper, pretend to be other animals it was enough to satisfy the audience. It was also enough time to set up, the table and the rest of the things that was needed for the act.

"Now, watch with amazement as I order this man to levitate. There are no physical laws that bind him, while in my control," His Great Uncle said, as he pushed him to lay on the table, he always wished that he could see this part of the act from the audience, because it was the best act of the show. He waited, until Stan placed the blanket over him, to open his eyes. He heard Stan begin to say a bunch of gibberish, before he felt himself begin to be lifted. The trick was successful, because of the contraption, which was lifted by strings that were unseen by the audience. As he could feel himself being raised higher, he could not help fear that the strings would snap. Before, any real fear took over him. He could feel himself being descended onto the table again.

The white sheet was removed, and he reverted back to his fake slumber. "Tyrone. Open your eyes and look at the audience." Dipper did as he was ordered, and it brought upon him the greatest joy, everyone was awestruck. "Let's give a bow shall we, Tyrone." Dipper did just that and then some of the adults and all of the kids stood to give an ovation. It was great to be praised. Once everyone stopped clapping, his great Uncle 'released' him. Then another round of applause began, and it boosted his ego even more.

He got off the stage, the curtains closing behind him. He moved out of the auditorium with the rest of the audience, before slipping away into one of the many secret doors that were placed throughout the theater. Now that the show was over all he wanted to do was remove the wig and the foreign clothing articles. He had to admit that Mabel did a wonderful job with the costume and the makeup on him. Therefore, it was no mystery that any of the passing acts in the theater would basically beg for her help.

Finally making it to the dressing room, he immediately started to get the offending garments off of his body. He had just finished changing back into his regular clothing when Mabel came barging into the room. "Great show, bro-bro."

"It sure was," Dipper said, turning to face his sister. She was out her performance clothing, but her dress still attracted a lot of attention to herself. There was such an unnecessary amount of fabric on the dress, in his opinion, but it was all the rage nowadays. As he looked at her dress, he felt the soreness on his neck. "I'd appreciate it if Stan wouldn't make me do so many stupid impressions. My neck is killing me."

"But that's what makes it so fun." She returned, placing his hat on his head. "And everyone in the audience just eats it up. It's great."

"I guess," Dipper admitted, reluctantly. "I just wish that all of the performance were as extravagant as the last one. I mean, you have to admit that all of them are a bit dull compared to it."

"Well, that's no mystery. It's one of the original acts. The rest of them are the ones that Great Uncle Stan has 'borrowed" from other performances." Mabel said, snatching the key that Dipper kept on his person at all times. "The original ones are said to be unlike anything else in the world." She unlocked one of the drawers of his wardrobe, lifting the false bottom to grab one of the journals. "And all of those impossible to replicate, undecipherable, and truly magical acts are all hidden within these Journals."

Dipper gave an annoyed sigh, but he let her read through the pages aloud. She was the only one he could trust with it. The journal had all of the acts from the past and all of the mystical creatures that inspired them. Although, some tricks relied on complicated, secret contraptions. The entire journal was written in a cipher that had taken him a long time to decipher, but it was worth it to know the secrets it kept. All of those tricks were priceless, but anyone who was desperate enough to know the secrets would pay millions. Many had already offered a great amount of money to his great uncle, but he had refused every time. It was odd, considering the fact that Stan loved money.

Dipper was distracted from his thoughts when Mabel tapped his head with the journal. "You in there, Dipper?" She asked, continuing her probing with the journal. "It's kinda boring to talk to myself." She wrinkled her nose, before shaking her head. "Scratch that, I'm actually a great conversation partner even by myself. Don't you think."

"If that's what you believe, I won't be stopping you," He said, taking the journal away from her. "But, seriously, Mabel. Don't you think that we should be doing more of the illusions, and actual magic documented in this journal."

"I think it would be great, but it's not my call. And Grunkle Stan has already said no, and he's been saying no for the past eight years." She placed eight of her fingers to his face, just to emphasize her point. Eight years, since their great uncle had taken them into their care. Eight years, filled with mystery and adventure, because he found the journal. It was an odd thought that it had been that long since he was a twelve-year-old searching through all of the secret chambers of the theater.

After a few more moments of Mabel refusing to remove her digits, Dipper moved away from her. He opened his mouth ready to tell her about his new plan to try and convince their great uncle, but before he could she placed her eight fingers on his face, again. "Even if he would tell you yes. You don't have the magical objects or even the regular ones to do the tricks."

Dipper groaned. "I know, I know. But I do know that I can get Stan to tell me where they are, and I know the inventor of the illusion contraptions."

"But didn't he lose his mind years ago?"

"That's beside the point."

"Well, bro. Good luck with that. If there's anything that you need from me, I'll be out in the lobby trying to catch myself a man."

He rolled his eyes before a mischievous smile grew on his face. "Are you sure you want to bother yourself with them when Pacifica is on the second floor?"

She turned around so fast that he thought she snapped her neck. Mabel's eyes were filled with so much mirth, because, for reasons unknown to him, she loved hanging around Pacifica. Fortunately for her, he was not lying.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An insight into their regular life at the theater.

The day after performing the world-renowned magic show, it was always a little hard to get back into the swing of things. No matter how many times it had happened, people never seemed to learn their lessons. There were always people at the ticket booth asking- or more accurately demanding- admission to the famous performance. They never seemed to receive the memo that the show was only performed once every few months- there was never an encore the next day, and there was never an exception made- no matter how hard the person complained.  
  
It was usually a headache for Wendy, who was his friend, his former childhood crush, and the one in charge of the ticket booth. She was usually the one with the short end of the stick since she dealt with the customer’s constant and unreasonable demands to see the show. It was interesting to see the way that she always managed to keep calm, having an almost innate ability to dismiss all of her annoyance with relative ease. While dealing with some demanding customers, Wendy still had time to turn back towards him and wave in a greeting. As the people yelling at her turned away for a moment, Wendy used the opportunity to mock their angered faces. Dipper had to stifle a laugh at the action, not wanting to bring any attention to himself.   
  
In the end, Dipper also had to force himself to continue sweeping the floor, despite wanting to give all of his attention to Wendy. He gave another tired sigh, just thinking about all the cleaning left to do made him feel exhausted. After he finished sweeping the lobby he would need to move on to the second floor, then the 'basement', and then all of the back of the house. It was so much to do. The most frustrating part of it all was that the moment he finished sweeping one place, it would be immediately be trampled upon with more dirt.   
  
At times like these, Dipper really missed working on the magic show. Pretending to be a part of the audience was probably one of the easiest job his Great Uncle ever assigned to him. Sure, he would also help in other shows that came to perform in the mystery shack by being their volunteer, but none of them ever felt as compensating. Any other day, when he was not needed to volunteer, he was thrown around the entire theater to do anything that was asked of him. It basically ended with him doing every job that ever existed in the theater, but he was mainly a backstage hand. Stan didn't want to hire more people because that just meant more salaries and less money for him- but it meant more work for him.   
  
"Hey, dude. Not to distract you from your revenge on the broom, but don't you think you're being too harsh to the floor."   
  
Dipper looked up to see Soos checking on one of the lights, smiling down at him. Dipper followed the man’s line of sight towards his hands, which were gripping the broom with white knuckles that he was actually surprised that it had not already snapped in half. Upon noticing his deathlike grip on the broom, he loosened his hold on it. His focus moving back to Soos, who continued to keep talking as he fiddled with the gauges of the lights.   
  
"It's like you want to scrub through the floor. It wouldn't be a... You know what, forget it." Soos stopped, focusing more on his job to look for any gas leaks. Dipper leaned against the broom, silently trying to inform Soos that he had to finish his point since he had piqued Dipper's curiosity and gained his undivided attention. Soos gave him a smile when he noticed and continued. "You know, it wouldn't be a half-bad idea. If you're planning to get food from downstairs faster by skipping the stairs altogether, or you can just fish for food and bring it up, like a lift."   
  
"It would definitely be easier to bring food up that way." Dipper encouraged, watching as Soos's face lit up. "Although, this spot doesn't exactly seem like the best place to make a hole. People may get their foot stuck or something. Then, we also have to ask Lazy Susan for permission."   
  
"Good point. I'll talk to mister pines about it later." Soos said, finishing up with his checkup. "Well, see you around man. Gotta checks the rest of these things or else the whole place might go BOOM!" Soos laughed, making hand motions to resemble an explosion. The only thing Dipper could do was a nod, and let him be on his way. His fear slowly edging away from the forefront of his mind, when he repeatedly told himself that Soos was the best handyman ever- and the place would definitely not be going boom anytime soon, probably.   
  
Giving a glance around the lobby, he realized that he was done with the entire place. He got caught up staring at the designs all around the theater. No matter how many times he thought about the way that the theater was designed with a baroque period style and a grand staircase in the middle, it always struck him as odd. The one time he asked his Great Uncle, he discovered that Stan had just won a bet against a French man and assigned him to design the place. At the time, his great uncle hadn't even known that the man was actually famous for his buildings, and just believed him to be a drunk vagabond. Why he would assign something so important to a drunk was beyond Dipper's understanding, but it all seemed to turn out alright. From the comments that he had heard from Pacifica, who had traveled to France- and all around the world- he learned that the theater looked like one of the French's fancy castles.   
  
Throughout the years, his great uncle Stan had never let the theater go through the ruin. That was not necessarily a good thing, in Dipper's opinion. The first time he had met Stan was when their parents had sent them off because they were having economic troubles and could no longer afford to take care of them. Deep down inside, Dipper knew that Stan could have wiped away the debt if he had sold the Mystery Shack, but he didn't. Instead, Stan had offered to take Dipper and Mabel into his home. It had taken so much convincing, and they had fought so hard to stay back. Both Mabel and he, at the time, had tried to do anything they could to help their parents, even stealing. It hadn't helped at all, and they were sent off. After they had arrived, they had never received word from them. Both Mabel and he did not like dwelling on those memories. The Mystery Shack had grown to be their home, and they had grown on their Great Uncle.   
  
Dipper let a small smile decorate his lips. He really loved the Mystery Shack. It had brought them together and a great deal of happiness throughout the years. He was glad that he had been brought here, despite the hard times that came before. He especially loved the magic show and wanted to bring about more happiness through it. Dipper was going to replicate the glory days from thirty years ago. Therefore with renewed vigor, he began cleaning the rest of the theater.   
  
By the time, Dipper had finished his sweeping. He had found himself in the front of the house, trying to find his Great Uncle. He was going to hound him again, so he could get more of the actual magic into the magic show. After asking Mabel, Soos, and Wendy, he discovered that Stan was in the first place that he should have thought of looking, his office.   
  
The moment he walked in, he saw his great uncle counting all of his money. He was even taking his time to put them into stacks. "Aren't you eager for a payday? You're even here before Wendy." Stan shoved one the stacks forward, and Dipper took it with gratitude. "Don't go spending it all at once like Mabel. I don't know how your sister can spend so much on just fabric." Stan commented, seriously amazed. Beneath the stacks of money, Dipper could see the math that Stan had done to try and decipher the mystery, but the moment that Stan noticed he slipped the paper away. "You got your money, kid," Stan said, writing in his account book. "What else do you want from me?"   
  
"I wanted to talk to you about the magic show." Dipper brought out the journal from his vest, opening it to the place he had marked beforehand. "I think we should do more tricks from this journal. Like this one. It has all..."   
  
Before Dipper could continue, his great uncle denied him again. "No. I'm not gonna do that, kid. It's never gonna happen."   
  
"Then I can do it instead!" Dipper said, raising his voice. He didn't want to give in just yet. He really wanted to do this. After the years of being around Stan, he had become one of the best illusionists. He could run the magic show on his own if he truly wanted.   
  
"There's a laugh!" His great uncle mocked, giving him a forced laugh. "Listen well, kid. Unless you've suddenly turned into a real magician, doing those acts aren't even possible!"   
  
"What do you mean it's not possible?! We just need the magic artifact and we can do it! According to the journal, it already has the power internalized!" Dipper argued, holding the journal up to his great uncle's face. Their voices were past the level of a casual conversation and moved on to a full on loud argument.   
  
"Tough luck, kid. We don't have the objects." His great uncle said, lowering his voice. Stan gave a tired sigh, rubbing his forehead in an attempt to stop an oncoming headache. He looked up at Dipper's confused face and elaborated. "They were stolen years ago. By some rich, pompous bastard."   
  
The only question on the forefront of Dipper mind being, "What's his name?" His great uncle shook his head and waved at him that he was dismissed from his office. Not wanting to try his luck anymore, Dipper left.   
  
Before he had noticed, he was back in the front of the house. If he was not so heated from the conversation, he would have realized it was not a good choice. Unfortunately for him, his anger made him forget that everyone was exiting the play. Therefore, he was trapped in the wave of people that were all heading towards the exit. They all stampeded forward, not caring if anyone was in between them and the exit. The only thing Dipper could do was resign himself, because if you couldn't fight them join them. It was so much easier than going against the flow.   
  
Dipper guessed that he needed to cool down from the argument, so going outside wasn't that bad. Some fresh air would do him some good, but being surrounded by such bustling individuals was having the opposite effect. He was about sneak back into the theater through one of the back doors, but he stopped mid-step. He couldn't believe his luck when he overheard something interesting.   
  
"I heard it's gonna be a full-on shindig. There's even going to be performances, because of Gideon, the rich guy throwing the party, is a huge fan of those things."   
  
"I heard from this one man that there's going to be an auction. The entire lot is from the original mystery shack's magic show."   
  
Those were the only words that Dipper needed to hear, before making a mental list to get ready for the party. If he had heard about the party any later, then he would not be able to make a very complicated and long plan. First thing was first, he had to tell Mabel and ask for help. He knew off the bat that she was going to want to hear about it.   
  
Dipper had forgotten that Mabel was helping the current play's decorations, because of his excitement. Although, he assumed that she would be busy since she always was busy. It didn't really matter to him because she had offered to help him if the situation arrived. He was expecting a lot of things, but not to slip into a pile of pine trees. "Mabel, why?" He questioned, struggling to sit up.   
  
Mabel shrugged, not looking up in favor of continuing her work. She was in her favorite seat making a woven basket, and there were many other woven things around her. The entire room was just filled with every part of a pine tree. "The gnomes wanted to make their play more authentic, and they offered a good amount. So here we are."   
  
"Gnomes?" It wouldn't be the first time magical creatures put a show in their theater, but it always took some time to uncover them. The current individuals had only been there for a day.   
  
"Well, I think they're gnomes." She said, finally looking up from her weaving and laughed as she saw Dipper trying to get up. Then she wouldn't stop laughing, and Dipper knew it was going to take some time for her to stop long enough to explain things. Therefore, he made himself comfortable on the pine trees and waited for her laughing fit to end, trying hard not to join her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bill appears in the next chapter...


	3. Chapter 3

The entire ballroom was filled with people, and all of them were happily conversing with each other. The only thing that was louder, than the many conversations, was the music flowing through the room. The select few that were dancing moved smoothly and gracefully through the dance floor. The amount of food set up buffet style was almost overwhelming, but with the amount of guest, there probably won't be any leftovers. The party reminded Dipper of the ones that his great uncle would throw annually, but unlike Stan's party, there was no common folk from the town. Therefore, Dipper didn't consider it as good as his great uncle's party.

Dipper fixed his coat, again. It felt slightly uncomfortable to him because he would regularly only wear his vest over his shirt. He felt that he had too much clothing on himself. The offending cavort around his neck felt very constricting. At least Mabel had spared him from wearing any itchy, fake beard. Everyone at the party was from out of town, except for Gideon, so the chances of being recognized were low. He just had to pretend that he belonged, so no one would suspect of him. The way that Mabel had dressed him helped him blend into the crowd perfectly, he just had to play his part.

Dipper was really proud of himself because it had been easy enough to get in the party. The guards were not completely useless, they did catch other people trying to sneak into the party. The guards had even come close to getting him, but he had used some misdirection tricks that Stan had taught him to get away. Once he had distracted them, Dipper would sidestep the guards and hide behind the carriages. His entrance was also aided by the large amounts of rich people that had mobbed the front door. All he had to do was get in the center of the chaos, and pretend that he belonged there with the rest of them.

Dipper surveyed the area. He needed to find the perfect time to sneak away to look for the lot that was going to be auctioned at the end of the night. From the things that he had overheard, the auction was going to be the last thing of the night so had a lot of time. There was an entire listing of the performances that were to come from beforehand. He just needed to wait for a show that really enraptured everyone's attention. Along for the host to come out in the open, so he wouldn't bump into him. The more he thought about his goal, the less he thought of it as stealing and more as getting what rightfully belonged to his family.

Dipper stood off to the side of all the commotion, back against the wall. He was trying to inch closer to the door that hopefully led to the rest of the mansion. He had managed to not attract any attention in the time that he was there. Although, that ended abruptly when some random man with two drinks in his hands decided to stand right in front of him. When the man extended one of the drinks towards him, Dipper didn't know what else to do but accept it with a small, "Thank you."

Dipper gave the man's appearance, a discreet appraisal. He was handsome, to say the least. He could imagine that Mabel's reaction would probably be to fawn over his tan skin, his angular features, and his golden, fluffy, tousled hair. She would probably spend a whole hour fantasizing about his golden, shining eyes alone. Then for some stupid reason, he could also hear the voices of Mabel's friends in his head. All of their voices complementing everything about the man: his gold earring, his snappy dressing, his bow tie, and the black tuft of hair. It was overbearing because he couldn't disagree with any of the stupid comments. Then, the man smiled and the voices in his head went completely haywire. When he went home, Dipper swore he would put more effort into avoiding the girls. The voices had him blushing like a tomato.

Dipper had not even noticed the once over the man had given him. He did, however, notice the man's eyes become more mischievous, when he noticed the rosiness of his cheeks, "Aren't you adorable, kid!" The man said, stopping to smell something in the air. "And I'll bet my left eye that you're the one!"

Before Dipper could question him, the man stepped closer to him. It was like the man's concept of personal space was nonexistent. By the time the man stopped approaching him, there were only a few inches in between them. The man even ignored Dipper's impression of a fish, opting to lean forward to compensate the height difference. The next thing Dipper knew, the man's nose was hovering over the crook of his neck. From the corner of his eyes, Dipper saw the man close his eyes and deeply inhale the air surrounding him. Then just as simple as breathing, the man pulled away with a satisfied smile. "You are! You're the one that smells like a pine tree!"

"You couldn't just ask me?" Dipper asked. He wasn't really angry just a little shocked by the lack of boundaries. Although, the shock had been enough for the familiar voices in his head to quiet down. If he had to guess, he'd assume that they had all passed out from having such an attractive individual close.

"What would have been the fun in that, Pine Tree?!" He commented, before finishing the rest of his drink in one go and laughing. "Wow. That sure does burn the entire road to my stomach." He abruptly stopped laughing to give Dipper an odd look. "Aren't you going to drink yours, it's my apology?"

Dipper returned the odd look with one of his own. "You brought me an apology drink before you even did the thing that you were going to apologize for." He was surprised that he did not drop the cup, during the whole thing.

"Yes! Some humans are so sensitive about others coming too close. It's like their babies are at stake by the way they react." He waved his hands around like making his point more obvious. The man kept looking from Dipper's drink to Dipper's face, trying to encourage him to take take a sip.

"You would think there's a reason for that," Dipper commented, before rolling his eyes and taking a sip from his drink. He did not mind the slight burn in his throat. Dipper guessed if it was the forgiveness drink he might as well show the man there were no hard feelings. He couldn't really blame the man for wanting to satisfy his curiosity. In Dipper's case, while trying to solve mystical mysteries had done some socially unacceptable things. Although, those times were secrets that he kept between his family and very close friends.

The man was about to continue the conversation, but a shorter man than himself, with a ridiculous hairstyle and an entire blue suit, drew everyone's attention by stepping up onto the stage. "Hello, everyone. I'm your humble host for the evening, Gideon Gleeful. I would just like to thank y'all for blessing my home with your presence from the bottom of my lil ole heart."

Dipper noticed that it was the perfect time to enact his plan, so with great effort, he began his slow trek to the door without even saying goodbye. The stout man continuing his announcement, "I'm hoping y'all came here ready to have your minds blown away because that's exactly what's going to...."

Dipper didn't get to hear the rest of it because he had made into the mansion. Although, it just looked like an endless hallway with an insane amount of doors. He placed the drink still in his hand, onto one of the many tables with vases and other ornaments. He groaned at the daunting task but began rushing through the hallway and opening each door to see if the lot was in there. He had opened about fifteen doors when it occurred to him that the lot would be placed somewhere the host felt safest. Therefore, he began to imagine where the master bedroom would be in the labyrinth of the house. In the slight glimpse that he had gotten of Gideon, he tried to decipher every little detail about him.

The man was shorter than him but stout. Therefore, he could assume that he wouldn't want his meals to take that long to reach him, so there would either be a short walk to his room or a direct lift to his room. He sniffed the air around him, trying to find the place that the cooking of the kitchen reached his nose. The moment he found it, he saw the maids and butlers coming in and out of the doors with plates of food. He guessed that checking if there was a lift to Gideon's room was a complete bust, because there were too many people to just waltz in and check. Although he had found the kitchen which could serve as his first checkpoint, because he could assume that his room was in the west wing along with the kitchen.

Dipper tried to think of something else that he had caught on about Gideon. The man was, of course, rich, so he wouldn't put it past the man to be a complete egotistical jerk that always wanted to bask in his own wealth. Gideon would probably have the best view of the house that showed the proof of his wealth, and that meant his room was on the second floor. The man also didn't seem to have any problems with getting around by the way he had gotten to the stage, and he did not have a staff or crutch of any kind.

Therefore, Dipper stealthily made his way upstairs. He was completely taken back when he saw through one of the windows. The backyard was enormous and it had an extravagant garden. It was a complete dream, the flowers were in full bloom, the trees all tall and strong, then there was even a maze made out of the hedges. Although, the thing that really had him breathless was the golden fountain. Dipper guessed that was the proof of wealth that Gideon had set up for himself. He just needed to find the room that had the perfect view of the golden fountain.

After a few miscalculations and opening the wrong doors, he finally found the room that had the perfect view of the fountain. Dipper couldn't even stop his small gleeful noise when he saw that he had been right with his assumptions. He was going to gloat about finding the master bedroom to Mabel later because it had taken him a decent amount of time to find the room. He looked out the wall-sized windows and saw the fountain with more details, the little angels that he had seen were actually younger and smaller versions of Gideon with wings and completely naked. Dipper groaned, the image was going to haunt him forever.

"Now, where could those things be." He asked himself, looking around the room until his eyes landed on a trunk that was left on the side. The trunk had a lot of runes on it, and it reminded him of the ones that he had seen in one of the rooms in the Mystery Shack. He took a step towards the trunk to examine it better, but he heard the floor creak. The problem was that the noise had not been his own doing, and he could hear some voices approaching. Therefore, he tried to think of some place to hide and the only place that occurred to him was inside one of the wardrobes. He had just closed himself inside when he heard the two people come into the room. Then, he noticed the room had been filled with light because some of the light was seeping through the wardrobe's small keyhole. Dipper held his breath and peeked through it.

Dipper really wanted to curse, because the only thing he could see were the shadows of the two individuals. Of course, he knew that Gideon was one of them, but he was curious about the other individual. However, he could still hear their argument perfectly.

"You're going to wait for the auction like the rest of them, you lunatic. I'm not running any charity here, and I'm not about to start giving things out for free."

The other person laughed, but the way that it sounded didn't sound human. "You stole those artifacts just to sell them off." The person said, his voice reverberating through the room. "That's just idiotic. You meat sacks make no sense."

"I'm just selling them because I might as well make some profit off of them," Gideon exclaimed, walking into Dipper's view. Gideon was sweating and seemed like he was trying hard to stand his ground. "At first, I had wished to steal the secrets of a mystery show, and perform them myself." Gideon's explained before his pale face turned red with fury. "But the stupid buffoons, I sent, didn't bring back the instructions to actually perform them."

"You're starting to get on my nerves, Gideon. I didn't ask why you stole them because I don't care for your stupid reasons. Just. Give. Me. The. Artifacts!" The person yelled angrily, his voice echoing and sending shivers down his own spine. Dipper had never been struck by so much fear in his life. Gideon even looked ready to piss himself.

The only thing that Gideon did through the fear was shakily pointed towards the direction of the trunk. "If you really want'em. Then grab 'em and leave." Gideon forced a smile after a few seconds, holding tightly to his bolo tie. "That's what I thought. You know what? I think I'll keep 'em in the trunk, and in my possession. Then, I can always pay a visit to the mystery shack to learn how to use them"

The other man had begun laughing again, "I'll make sure you don't live long enough to learn!" Dipper heard the door open and shut, signaling the departure of the individual.

Gideon began to throw a tantrum, and Dipper just watched him through the peephole. Gideon stomped, cursed, and threw things throughout the room. He suddenly stopped and composed himself. When Gideon finally calmed down, he stopped clutching onto his bolo tie. Dipper noticed that it was one of the artifacts in the journal. It was perhaps one of the strongest of all of the artifacts. Dipper couldn't believe that he had not seen it before. Then with a few encouraging words to himself, Gideon exited the room.

When everything went quiet, Dipper managed to get out of the wardrobe. He then rushed over to the trunk, easily opening it up to see all of the artifacts that were depicted in the journals. Before he could get lost trying to remember exactly what all the items did, he got a sack out of his coat and shoved them all into it. Thankfully, all of the artifacts fit in the bag. He didn't even understand the reason for the large trunk when all of them could fit in a smaller container.

On his way to the ballroom, he felt a lot more paranoid that someone was going to find him. He could no longer hide underneath his coat, and he was awkwardly holding behind his back. Although he lied his way through to the guards throughout the hallways, because there was suddenly more of them. He felt pretty accomplished except for not being able to get the amulet. The moment he rounded one of the corners, he noticed that Gideon was walking towards him. Instead of freaking out, he was overcome with the need to get the amulet.

His greed won against his common sense, and he decided to swipe the item. Dipper bumped into him relying on his slight of hand to get the amulet off of his bolo tie. Before Dipper could grasp the amulet, his hand was caught in an unforgiving grip. The shock of being caught was almost too much for him to understand, he had never been caught before. He didn't even dare look up, afraid that Gideon might recognize him.

"What do you think you're doing, boy?" The man hissed, tightening his hold.

Dipper could only whimper, because of the pain radiating from his wrist. He also decided to cut his losses, when he heard Gideon call the guards. Dipper's only hoped that he wouldn't go home with a broken arm. Therefore, he kicked Gideon's shin as hard as could and inwardly cheered when he let go of his wrist. He went through the first door that he could reach and locked it before any of Gideon's henchmen could get inside. Although the door wouldn't hold for long with the way that they were beating the door. Gideon's angry screams radiating through the door, promising death.

The fear was starting to consume him. The entire room was dark, and he couldn't see any windows. The threats of being beaten to death skinned alive or stabbed to death was making it really hard for him to think of anything. The only comfort that he still had were the mystical items, and he was so close to getting the magic show back. He had to find a way out.

Dipper calmed himself, ignoring the yells, and heard the sound of clapping. He was close to the ballroom, if he had to guess he was in a room behind the stage. Dipper smiled. There had to be a door leading directly to the backstage because he was in a dressing room. He didn't know how he had not noticed the vanity mirrors and dress racks. Dipper followed the sound of the clapping, looking for any sign of the door. The moment he found the door, the one behind him had finally broken down. Instantly, the room was filled with light and a very angry Gideon.

Dipper didn't even have time to close the door behind him. He just ran hoping that he had guessed right because he did not see the ballroom. He couldn't even see anything, the entire place was pitch black. Dipper tried to comfort himself by telling himself that he had a better chance of hiding from the guards and delay his fate in the dark. His heart nearly crumbled, when he bumped into someone. The man holding onto him, giving him nowhere to escape. He was beyond desperate and wanted to strike some compassion into them.

"Please, help me get out." He begged, his voice quivering and body shaking.

The request was followed by silence, before the man holding him leaned down to whisper into his ear, "As you wish, Pine tree."


	4. Chapter 4

"If you want to get out of here, you'll have to close your eyes and not open them until I say otherwise. Do you understand?" The man whispered, holding Dipper flush against him. The darkness giving them a few seconds to hide, and Dipper used them to hesitate. Although, the sound of the guard's footsteps and Gideon's yells coming closer was persuasive enough for Dipper to agree.

"I understand." He whispered back desperation lacing his voice. The moment he closed his eyes, he could hear the man chuckle into his ear. The sound was followed by the floor suddenly giving out from beneath them, and a feeling of falling began. In the short time they fell, he could feel the rush of air around him. Their descent also seemed to linger, and they almost seemed to float. The floating did not last long, however, before they landed. Their fall was cushioned by some type of mattress that made them bounce. Dipper landed on top of the man, his face meeting the man's shoulder. Dipper didn't dare open his eyes, choosing to grasp the man's vest and onto the bag in his other hand for dear life.

Everything was different when he couldn't see anything. It was odd that he had put all of his faith into a stranger, but he had not been caught yet. So far, so good. The man easily maneuvered them, so they were both standing, but the ground still did not feel right to him. It felt like they were still floating off the ground; the man being his only anchor. They continued their embrace even as the man began to lead him somewhere. The way they walked was more like a dance because the man would take a step and he would follow.

All of the noises seemed to have disappeared, the only sound he could hear was the mixture of their breathing. Throughout the experience, there was a slight warmth that had engulfed his entire body, and the source of the warmth seemed to be from the man. It was like he was enveloped in a cool flame. Although, he didn't dare try to inspect it. They just continued to dance. It was like they were alone in a void, but it could have just been Dipper's wild imagination. When the man seemed to fall backward, Dipper had no choice to follow him and ended up laying on top of him, again.

The warmth that surrounded Dipper and the sense of being weightless suddenly disappeared altogether. It made him feel cold and suddenly burdened with more weight. The sounds from all around him also returned. Dipper could hear the sound of music, laughing, and chattering from the party. Although, Dipper was most grateful for the sounds that he could no longer hear: the screaming, the orders, and all the chaos. The man had truly kept his side of the deal of getting him away, in exchange for his blind trust.

"You can open your eyes, now." The man informed.

Dipper did not hesitate to open his eyes after he received permission. The view that greeted him shocked him. He was inside a fancy and well-decorated carriage. The walls were a vibrant yellow, with some slick black engravings that made it look like it was made from bricks on the edges. The carriage had black, satin curtains that covered the windows, and yellow triangles embroidery in its design. The main difference from any other carriage, which Dipper had seen on the few times he worked as a valet, were the yellow walls. Although, the black seats were a normal occurrence, but they also seemed to sparkle like the stars if you paid more attention, and that was a bit different.

"How did we get here?" Dipper asked; his eyes darting around the small enclosure wildly, before focusing back onto the man underneath him. He couldn't remember taking any steps that would have landed him in this carriage. Nothing was making sense, and trying to come up with a logical explanation was giving him a headache.

The man stared back, releasing his hold on Dipper's waist to push Dipper's bangs away from his eyes. "You know." The man laughed. "I wouldn't be able to continue my living as a magician if I gave away all of my secrets, Pine Tree."

"You're an illusionist," Dipper commented more to himself than to the man. "There are no such things as real magicians, according to my great uncle. Only people that know how to trick and lie to earn their share in the world."

The man hummed in contemplation, as he reached behind him to knock on the carriage wall setting it into motion. "Your great-uncle might have a point, kid."

Dipper heard the hooves of the horse's pound onto the ground, and the sounds of the party steadily left behind. Just knowing that he was putting some distance between Gideon and himself gave him great comfort. He relaxed, putting more weight on the man beneath him. "Yeah, but there's always the chance that he's wrong. I mean..." Dipper cut himself off when he looked back down at the man and their compromising position. The realization that he was still on top of him hitting him like a ton of bricks. One heartbeat later, Dipper had removed himself from the man, scrambling to sit on the furthest end of the black cushioned seats. He made sure to leave a good amount of space in between them and kept the sack with the artifacts away from sight by placing it behind him.

The man gave an annoyed groan, sitting up. "Why did you move away, kid? I was really enjoying the smell of that pine tree aroma you have all over you."

"I think you've had enough opportunities to indulge yourself in my scent, for the night." Dipper avoided eye contact with the man. He was embarrassed by his own lack of effort in keeping his personal space. He did not want to get attract any attention on himself tonight, and he had done the opposite. If Mabel ever asked him the way to gain an attractive man's full attention, he'd immediately tell her to fall into a pile of pine trees, because they would not be able to get enough of the smell.

Despite the man's clear displeasure at the distance Dipper had placed between them, the man made no move to approach him. He also did not comment on the redness of Dipper's cheeks. The man just sighed, pulling the curtains, on the backside of the carriage, to the sides to give them a clear view of the mansion they were leaving behind. "So, are you going to tell me what happened back there?" He moved his head until his golden eyes locked onto Dipper's brown ones. "One moment the curtains are coming down, the next you're running into me like a blind, scared, shaky rabbit!"

Dipper tried hard not to roll his eyes at the comment but failed. Although, the annoyed gesture contradicted the small pleased sound he made behind his throat when he realized that he had been right about the stage. Dipper was so pumped and glad that he contemplated opening his mouth to spill all the beans of his brilliant deduction skills, but stopped. "I don't think it will be a good idea to tell a total stranger about it." He said truthfully. "But I do think thanks is in order. So thank you for getting me out of there. I would tell you more, but I don't even know your name."

"It's William. William Cipher, but call me Bill. William has always seemed too formal." Bill said, nonchalantly, "I was going to introduce myself earlier, but you ran off before I could." He pulled out a deck of cards from one of the pockets in his coat.

Dipper looked at the cards with a quirked eyebrow. At least knowing that Bill was an illusionist made it a little bit more understandable for him to carry cards around. Although, it was still odd. Dipper was about to introduce himself to Bill, and give him a fake name, of course; since it wouldn't do him any good to be connected to a robbery. When he went to open his mouth, Bill scooted closer to him.

"Mind paying me back for the favor, right now, kid? I want to try something on you!" Bill said excitedly, shuffling the cards. He made a display of lazily shuffling them, eventually moving on to more complicated techniques. The card shuffling turned out to be quite a show all on its own. Once he was satisfied, Bill spread the cards out to Dipper in one hand. "Pick a card. Any card." He ordered playfully, but Dipper just stared at him incredulously. The man had no semblance of an attention span, and it was quickly showing. "Humor me, kid. Just get a card. You won't be disappointed."

Dipper still did not make a move to take a card, trying to convey that he was not going to do so, but Bill did not relent. He kept giving pointed glances at the deck in his hand, prompting him to take a card. After a few more moments of the showdown, Bill sighed dramatically. "You can consider this payment for me getting you out of there, or you could always stay in my debt a little longer. Collecting payment is always more fun, in the long run, little sapling, and I might want to play with you for awhile."

"Yeah, I rather not have that threat looming over my head. I'll just pay you back now." Dipper replied. He really didn't want to be debt with a total stranger, so he relented, grabbing a card at random. Bill's smile returned in full force, and it looked like his face was going to spill in half by the size of it. Dipper ignored him. "What do you want me to do with it?"

"Look at it, and memorize it," Bill said, starting to shuffle the cards again. He was staring at him expectantly, and an entertained look decorated his face.

"Why not." The card, in Dipper's hand, was an odd card. It was clearly a tarot card, but it was unlike any that he had ever seen. It had an image of the dark night filled with sparkling constellations, and a trail in a forest. The picture was really detailed and it made him wonder about the other cards. The more he looked at it, the more things he could see. He realized that the forest was filled with pine trees and that there were shooting stars that looked like they actually moved if he tilted the card slightly to the side. There were other things that were hidden behind the shroud of the trees if he squinted he could see a river, eyes that peeked through the bushes, and strange tracks on the trail. The most confusing thing in the picture was the small, blue sparks of fire that lit up the scene.

"Once you're done looking at it, put it back into the deck," Bill instructed, splitting the deck and half. He waited patiently until Dipper put it back into his hands. Bill started to shuffle them again, and this time he even passed it to Dipper. Dipper did his own types of shuffles, trying to put on a show for Bill as well. The man seemed to enjoy that Dipper made the cards fly from one hand to the other, so Dipper did it more than once. Bill applauded. "Not bad, pine tree."

Dipper smiled and blushed at the ovation, it was not all the time that people applauded his tricks. "So, what's all the point of all of this, Bill? Are you going to seal my soul into the card?" He teased. It had happened, once before with a pack of vampires, but he had long memorized how it was performed so he would never fall for it again. Although, he was more than a little curious, most tricks did not work if the one performing it did not have their hands on the material at all times. All of the tricks that he knew were all about control.

"Sheesh," Bill said, catching one of the cards in mid-flight, and disrupting any of the cards as they made it to their destination. The blond had done it so fast that he had almost missed it. Dipper wouldn't have believed it if he did not see it with his own eyes. "You've got to learn to be more patient, Dipper. There's no point to building up all the suspense, just to spoil it halfway through. You've got to learn when the right time to pounce on your prey is, so it is impossible for them to scurry away!" The man smiled, as Dipper froze gawking at him with wide, wondering eyes. Bill twirled the card between his fingers, before placing into Dipper's hands. "Is this your card?"

Dipper looked down to the card in his hand and nodded dumbly. The image on the card was the exact same one. The entire trick was unlike any he had ever seen before, and he had seen a large share of tricks. "Why did you call me Dipper?" He finally asked, fidgeting a bit with the deck of cards still in his hands. "Do you know me from somewhere?" He tried to recall Bill from his memories, but there were not any prior to the night. It was odd for a complete stranger to know his nickname.

"It's all in that cards you chose," Bill explained smugly, tapping at the night sky on his card. When he saw Dipper's confusion, he smiled."Let's take a closer look shall we?" Bill took the first card on top of the deck, still held in Dipper's hand, flipping it over. The image on the card was an amplified image of the night sky that was on the original card. Although, the most notable constellation was the Big Dipper. Dipper couldn't contain a gasp of surprise. "It's not your birth name, but it is the name you're most comfortable with."

Dipper remained frozen in shock, trying to remember if anything about his identity had ever slipped out of his mouth. He let Bill grab the next card in the deck. He was curious about the way the trick worked, but he had to see it through until the end. The image on the newly drawn card was a detailed picture of pine trees, and some hidden creatures.

The man clicked his tongue, holding the card in every direction. "So either, you're a tree or you're the last name is pines, and it fits perfectly with a pine tree," Bill mumbled something else underneath his breath, but Dipper didn't catch anything. Dipper jumped when Bill straightened up and grabbed two this time. The first one had the image of the river. The card seemed to reflect his face onto the water like it was real. "Look at that. You're one of a pair, and I'm going to guess you have a twin sister." Bill whistled, at the last card, keeping it out of sight from Dipper. "Haven't seen this one in a long time."

"What is it?" Dipper asked, feeling like one of those flabbergasted children that came to the mystery shack, after a show. He couldn't decipher any of the tricks and it was exciting him. It had been a long time since he had not been able to catch all of the tricks. When Bill didn't show him the card, Dipper got a little bit impatient. "Show it to me, Bill"

Before Dipper could snatch the card out of the man's hands. Bill made it disappear, laughing as he did. "Come on, kiddo. You know the rule of show biz: you have to leave them wanting more, so they keep coming back. You've really got to give them a chance to get on their hands and knees to adore the things they don't understand and beg for one more glimpse."

"Apparently you've forgotten about the three parts of an act," Dipper replied, fanning out of the deck of cards in his hand. "There's the pledge, the first part of any act, where you must have a seemingly normal object. Something that no one will ever suspect anything of it. The second part is the turn, in which you turn the normal into the impossible." Dipper made the cards disappear from sight with fast moving hands, hiding them into his sleeve. He smiled, when he saw the impressed on Bill's face. "The turn is my personal favorite, but people are never satisfied with just seeing something disappear." He spared Bill a small peeved glance. "You have to make it appear again." Dipper made the cards fly out of his hands, and onto Bill's face. "And that's the way you end a trick with the prestige."

Bill gave a startled yell as the cards hit his face, and the carriage stopped at the sound. Dipper guessed it was the best time to make his escape. Before Bill could recover from the shock, he jumped out of the carriage. A few steps away from the carriage, he turned around. "Thanks for everything, William. But it's time for me to go." Dipper yelled back, tightening his grip on the card and bag with him. He had spent enough time with Bill, and the entire time had been nothing less than a dream come true, but he needed to get back home. He began running as if his life depended on it.

Dipper glanced up at the sky as he ran, the sun would be up in a couple of hours. Mabel was going to be pissed. She was probably planning to have his head for taking his sweet time and making her worry. He felt sort of horrible for leaving suddenly, but he had to do it. It wouldn't do him any good to have any ties with the party, so he had to cut them all off. He almost stopped many times, because he could have almost sworn that he was being followed. Instead, he kept running until he made it back to the mystery shack, ignoring the mysterious sounds and shadows around him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter, this entire story, happened because I watched The Prestige tbh.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy, Twins bonding.

Dipper opened his eyes, groaning at a headache that persevered through the night. His entire dream had been plagued by images of Gideon enacting his threats. It was not a pleasant experience, but at least it was all over. Dipper looked around his room, noticing the light that was already slipping into his room. He sighed, knowing that he only had two hours before getting to work. He wished he could just ignore his duties for the day, but it wouldn't do him any good. It would lead to a lecture and more work from his great uncle. He got out of bed still wishing that he could get more hours of sleep.   
  
Dipper would have changed into his normal clothes, but he noticed that everything was gone. He searched everywhere, all of his shirts and trousers had magically disappeared. He was about to search through the journal to look for any mystical being that stole clothing, but a note on his desk caught his attention. It was a note from Mabel: _Consider this payback for last night. I sent all of your clothes downstairs to be washed because they stink. The smell was even starting to reach my room. While you wait for them to be done, you can always wash too. And on a different note, I'm going to be keeping some things in your room for awhile. So, see you when you're clean, bro-bro_ .   
  
Dipper crumpled the note and threw it into his wastebasket. At least that was one mystery solved. But, he still wondered how his sister had managed to take all of his clothing while he was asleep. His best guess was that the exhaustion from last night's events had caught up with him. His entire body was still sore from all of the runnings, and a bath was sounding more appealing by the second. It would probably help him relieve some of it. Although, he did not know what to do to get rid of the guilt that he still felt for abandoning his savior. He groaned, it was definitely going to be one of those things that bothered him for a lifetime. Not wanting to get sucked into those thoughts, he went to prepare himself a bath.   
  
In the end, he struggled with getting the water warmed up, making his way through the theater with only a towel around his waist, and fighting with the woman to give him back his clothing was hell. It reminded him of the reason that he avoided the tasks until the last possible moment. The woman had begun lecturing him about his lack of hygiene and decency, the moment he walked in. Dipper just ignored her yelling and collected his clothing. "You know, child. I bet you would never wash if it weren't for your sister. Bless her soul for putting up with a sweating mess like you."   
  
Dipper couldn't deny that accusation. After a hard day's work, the last thing that he would think about was smelling like a daisy. He only did it for Mabel, because even if she did not complain about it. He knew her well enough to realize that being surrounded by sweating, smelly, men all of the time was driving her to the brink of insanity. Therefore, he tried his best to start caring more about his hygiene, but even with his best efforts he still struggled. But he struggled just for Mabel. Although he did not want to hear it from the woman, so he went back to his room.   
  
He was always grateful for the many secret passages in the theater. It made things easier for him to get to places. Back in his room, Dipper admired his form in the mirror. He had to admit that it was great to be clean, but it took too much time. Yesterday, he had looked fancy and dashing, but now he looked more like himself. It wasn't that he was opposed to being all dressed up, it was just too stuffy and restraining. He preferred wearing his simple, white shirt and red, plaid waistcoat that Mabel had made just for him. Along with his simple black trousers that made his work easier.   
  
Dipper looked at the time on his pocket watch. He had about an hour before it was time to eat. Instead of using that time to catch up on sleep, he decided to spend it examining the objects from last night. He lifted one of the floorboards, revealing the sack. He also grabbed one of the journals from their hiding spot. It took everything he had to keep the squeal that was bubbling in his throat down. Dipper had all of the artifacts, except for the amulet, in his possession. It was everything that he had ever wanted and it was coming true. He could elevate the magic show to its former glory with the artifacts. Although, he doubted that his great uncle would even allow him to perform if he did not know how to use them. Therefore, he used every second he had to learn how to use them.   
  
Reading through the many pages of the journal, he put extra emphasis on one of the pages that depicted many ruins. They were the same ones that were on the chest, the night of the party. He was surprised to see that they were wards to keep the items from being tracked by any supernatural being. There was also a part of the description in which it was stated that it also served as a spell to keep a certain creature from touching it, but the name of it was completely smudged. He then realized that it was the reason that the person who had been in the room with Gideon that night must not have been able to open the chest, due to them.   
  
Not wanting to tempt the fates, he quickly ran to his desk. He grabbed a blank sheet of paper and a quill, quickly imprinting the page with the runes in the journal. He made sure to get them perfectly. Better safe than sorry. Once he was done with one sheet of paper he made three more. He rummaged through all of his belongings, finding a hammer and nails. He just hoped he wouldn't hit his own fingers with how hard he was shaking. He didn't know if the person was already out looking for the items, or if the items had attracted other magical creatures. Gideon had sounded horrified that night, and he probably had a good reason for it. He hammered the papers to the underside of the floorboard, on the sides of the crevice, and in the bottom of the artifacts. He breathed a sigh of relief, wondering if he should place more ruins around his own room. A knock distracted him from the idea.   
  
He looked at his watch again. It had only been twenty minutes. No one should be calling him down for anything for at least forty more minutes. He didn't have to question himself much longer when his sister burst into his room. She looked a little bit frazzled before she composed herself. "So, bro, I need a favor from you." She said, ignoring him ignoring her. "You know because I did help you yesterday with whatever you were doing." She pushed on, trying to fix her fluffy, big, blue dress. "I also went through all of that trouble covering for you last night and waiting for you to come back until the wee hours of the morning. I only slept three hours for you. Come on, Dipper, please." She begged a little more desperately.   
  
"Okay, Mabel, I get it. What do you need?" He conceded, dropping everything he was doing. He could never say no to her. While he waited for her to tell him about all of the details, he put away all of the objects into the bag and into it's hiding place. The longer that it took for her to speak, the more he realized that he had made a mistake by agreeing. "Mabel, what is it?"   
  
"Well, I was wrong about the new tenants being gnomes." She said, her voice quivering a little bit. Her tone made more red flags appear in his mind. If it made his sister nervous, then it made him anxious.   
  
"And?" He waved his hand, signaling her to elaborate. He might as well know the entire story before he freaked out. She was starting to play with her long hair, and that was never a good sign. "Mabel, talk to me!"   
  
"And they might be crazy, psychotic puppets that just happen to know that I know that they want to steal everyone's soul and make them into puppets. And I thought that you might be able to help." She rushed out, calming down once it was out of her system. Dipper only stared at her, before going to his journal flipping through the pages. "In retrospect, everything in their acts makes sense. To be completely honest, I don't think it would be that bad to be turned into a puppet because we could be immortal. They're also tiny and adorable."   
  
"Mabel!" Dipper yelled, his voice cracking. "This is not the time to consider immortality by turning into puppets. We have to stop them." He started to read hastily when he found the right page. "Besides, I don't want to be manipulated for the rest of my life. I enjoy my free will very much." He started to grab anything he thought that they would need for the monster hunt. When he had the incantation, to perform the exorcism, memorized he turned towards her putting up a fist. "You ready, mystery twin?"   
  
"Yeah, I'm ready. Mystery twins!" She yelled, bumping her fist to his. As a last minute thought Dipper placed his coat over her shoulders, it was a little chilly. She gave him an appreciative smile before they bolted through the door. "We've got to hurry. They're in the main changing room, packing up their stuff." She grabbed his hand, dragging him through the many flights of stairs. As they descended, she found it an appropriate to ask: "What exactly happened last night?"   
  
He gave her an incredulous look, but he guessed it was the perfect time to tell her everything. Therefore, as they weaved through the theater like it was a maze, he told his story. By the time that they had entered a secret passage that allowed them a clear view of the inside of the main changing room, he had just finished telling her almost everything. He had left out some of the details like Bill's name, and his magic tricks, and somehow she knew there was more. Mabel looked like she had a million questions on her tongue, but he shushed her before she could ask. "Let's get this over with and then I'll answer whatever you want."   
  
Both of them had the perfect view of the room through the two-way mirror. Inside of the changing room, he saw that there was a multitude of small puppets. They also saw a seemingly masked man, fall apart to reveal multiple puppets underneath the large coat and one hiding behind the mask. Most of them were moving about the room drawing sigils to cover the walls; others, were off to the side unmoving. Dipper guessed that those were the soulless puppets, the ones that they were going to transfer their souls into, or at least try to transfer. All of the puppets were only about a foot tall, but the scary part that he had read in his book was the paralytic on their small razor sharp hands. He had to make sure that they stopped them before they finished up the ritual. He signaled Mabel, that they were going to begin.   
  
"I got you, little bro." She reassured, and Dipper started the incantation.   
  
"Pitiful beings, who have given up everything to become slaves to the will of evil, are no longer allowed to take refuge in their own denial."   
  
The puppets instantly perking up and becoming alerted to their presence. The spell worked as a double-edged sword because it would automatically give away their hiding spot. It was up to Mabel to protect him from the puppets if they found them while he was still reciting he would be a sitting duck. If he even hesitated for a moment, he would have to start all over and he doubted he would have a second chance. Although, Dipper felt very secure with Mabel defending him with a real sword. She had mastered swordsmanship from all of the times they used it in shows and battling the supernatural.   
  
"May the strings that control your every action be revealed, and show you the choices and humanity that you lost."   
  
As all of the puppets began to hoard towards their general area, closing in on their location. More flooded into the room, at least, they would be sure that they got all of the puppets because none of them could resist the call. The evil puppets threw themselves against the mirror, cracking it with each hit. It did not take a lot of time for them to finally break through the mirror. The moment they passed through the threshold, Mabel charged forward swinging right and left. She took out multiple puppets. Throughout the entire commotion, Dipper was still able to read through it uninterrupted.   
  
"You have become nothing and nothing you shall be on these grounds. Pitiful creatures, may you find peace when strings no longer tie you down."   
  
Once he was done reading, all of the possessed puppets began to glow an angry red. Hideous faces started to form on their once clear, wooden face. They all turned more violent in their attacks, no longer caring about their self-preservation. The clicking noises that they emitted sent a shiver down both of their spines. It was obvious that they did not enjoy that their strings had been exposed by the spell. All, Mabel and Dipper, had to do was find the main string that controlled the rest of them and cut it. Although, all the jumbled up strings in the air made it really hard to locate the original.   
  
"Get ready to go down, you tiny monsters," Mabel yelled, slashing the strings that held up the puppets around her. All of their bodies crumpling for a moment, before new strings formed. "Dipper! They're not staying down."   
  
"We have to take out the main string or they'll keep getting up." He reminded, jumping into action using his own sword. He had to help Mabel. She was having trouble with the amount of puppets charging towards her. He was not as good with the sword as Mabel, but he was decent enough to take out some of the puppets. When he missed them with his sword, he resorted to kicking them out of the way.   
  
"A-alrighty. Where's the main string." She said to herself, swinging her sword blindly, trying to find the string that connected all of them. While she was distracted, the puppets managed to wrench the sword out of Mabel's hands. They jumped at the opportunity to latch their claws into her face, but she took off the coat to use as a net to capture them. They tried to escape, but she held it shut. "Let's see how you like this!" She challenged, bringing the coat filled with puppets down like a hammer onto the puppets approaching her, smashing them into tiny pieces.   
  
While the puppets ran away from Mabel, he focused on finding the string. He kicked down one of the puppets, holding it in place with his foot. He pulled on its strings, following it until it landed him on a black puppet hiding in the corner of the ceiling. He instantly knew that it was the one in charge of manipulating the rest. Therefore, he threw the puppet that had been underneath his foot, before it could run off. Dipper rushed towards the black puppet, as Mabel continued wrestling the other puppets. The moment he reached the leader, sword in hand, it started backing up into the corner. It's distorted face scowled at him before it began to speak. "You must be the reason that the magical potential of this theater is so strong. This entire place is a magnet for the supernatural, and you won't be ready for the things that shall come to take this power. We could have saved you, all you had to do was give up your current vessel."   
  
"Like I would ever trust you with my soul. We can handle anything that comes our way, you stu-" Dipper turned around for a second, at Mabel's scream. She was on the floor with the puppets poised to rip her apart. He could see the small scratch on her cheek where the paralytic had probably entered her system and left her defenseless. Not wanting to see his sister be clawed to death, Dipper brought down his sword down to finish the job. The screech that filled the air made them both flinch.   
  
After the black puppet was split in half, the rest of the puppets went limp. Everything had gone quiet and peaceful. Although, the entire changing room was a complete mess. He walked over to Mabel, who was still immobile, panting on the floor. "Well, that went pretty well, in my opinion." He said, removing the puppets from her form and sitting her up. Dipper examined the scratch on her cheek, it was not very deep and it would heal quickly. "I told you to avoid their claws at all costs. Now, you're going to be frozen forever." He laughed when her eyes widened. "I'm just messing with you. It'll wear off in two hours...And everyone tells me I have no sense of humor."   
  
Mabel gave a small sigh of relief with her limited movement. It was weird seeing her so hopeless. Dipper stared at her for awhile, before the temptation became too much for him. He poked her nose like she usually did to him, repeatedly, saying, "Boop." It was beyond satisfying. He did it for a couple of minutes, before having enough of his revenge. There was a sound that tried to get out of her throat, and Dipper guessed it was a weak peeved comment. He didn't put much thought into it.   
  
Dipper looked at the destruction of the room around him, deciding that it would be better to take no responsibilities for the chaos. Therefore, he picked Mabel up, giving her a piggyback to her room. He stepped over the broken mirror, and into the passageway. "I wonder how long it will take for Grunkle Stan to find out about all of this." 


	6. Chapter 6

It took his great-uncle exactly three hours to discover the destruction of the changing room- and it took another hour for Stan to track down both, Mabel and Dipper, and force them to clean up the entire place. Dipper was glad that he did not have to clean the mess all alone because Mabel had recovered from the venom awhile ago. It also helped that Mabel had convinced some of her friends and the performers from the current act, to aid in the cleaning. Dipper stood off to the side, scrubbing away at the markings on the wall; as Mabel socialized with all of the people in the room. Most of the talk, being about Mabel's expertise on stitching and sewing, and her wonderful blue dress that she made by herself.

Dipper never minded when he was left on his own because it gave him the perfect opportunity to sneak off and study. He was about to leave when he felt a firm hand on his shoulder. "You're not getting out of this one." His great-uncle said, putting the washcloth back in his hand. "I want this entire place sparkling by the time our next customer arrives, and you better get a move on cause he's due any minute."

"Why do you need me?” Dipper protested, pointing at the mob of girls behind him. “All of them will have it done any minute now."

"You're the one that caused the mess, so learn how to clean up after yourself. I'm not gonna pay any money for someone else to do it."

"For the last time, the puppets were the ones that broke everything."

His great uncle scoffed in disbelief. "Well, I bet you caused at least some of this. Now, you've even cost me a customer. Both of you need to learn how to let the tenants do their things, they rented the space, and it won't be doing me any good if everyone that ever performs here disappears every time." His great uncle distractedly picked up one of the wooden puppets and fiddled with it. "But you did a good job saving the world. I really wasn't in the mood to turn into a puppet"

Dipper smiled at the comment, continuing his scrubbing. "So, what's the new guy's trade." He asked, changing the subject.

"He says he's an illusionist, and that's the only reason I agreed to let him in. If he had said he was a magician, I would've given him the uppercut of a lifetime."

Dipper knew that it was true. Stan had done the same thing, the last time that someone claimed to be a magician. It had been a pain in the neck to get the man to not press any charges, but anything was possible with enough money. The comment automatically made him think about the man from last night and all of his tricks. A slight pang of guilt shooting through him. The feeling was quickly overshadowed by the silence that enraptured the room, which was off considering that everyone in the room loved talking and could not go more than a second without talking.

He followed everyone's line of sight to see, the man that had plagued his mind for the entire day. It was Bill. The man leaned against the doorframe, looking just as whimsical as the day before. His hair still styled perfectly, but still slightly tousled to the side. He was wearing a black coat, his bowtie, and a yellow vest with a brick pattern on the lower part. He seemed like the epitome of elegance.

Stan stood up to greet the man, before calling Mabel and Dipper to do the same. Dipper moved stiffly, trying to understand what was happening. The day was just not letting him take a break. "Let me introduce our new tenant for the next few months, William Cipher."

Dipper felt his mouth go completely dry. Out of all the people in the world, it had to be him. Dipper looked off to the side for an escape route. He couldn't do this. He needed to get away.

His great uncle did not notice his distress and continued with the introduction. "This here is my great niece, Mabel Pines." Mabel didn't really need the little push that their great uncle gave her, jumping forward herself.

Bill took her hand, bending down slightly to place a kiss on it. "A pleasure to meet your acquaintance." He gave her a charming smile, and everyone in the room swooned. Even Dipper felt his own heart stutter at the smile.

"The pleasure is all mine," Mabel responded, fluttering her eyelashes and leaning closer to the man. "If you ever need anything for your acts, I'm always here. Like not always here, but in this general area." She laughed nervously. "Because I sometimes go out."

"That's good to know," Bill said, politely smiling at her. When Stan was about to introduce him, Bill's eyes locked with his own. Dipper thought that Bill was going to stop him, but instead, he went along with it. No one seemed to notice his internal struggle. When Bill held out his hand for a handshake, Dipper hesitated. The moment he finally took Bill's hand, something clattered loudly in the farthest corner of the room. Everyone's attention instantly shifted away from them and towards the object trying to see what caused the sound. In those few seconds, Bill pulled him closer, whispering into his ear. "Nice to see you again, Pine Tree."

Dipper didn't even say anything, and Bill just lets him go. The man continued to keep the smile on his face, as everyone's attention returned to him. His great uncle then patted him on the back, getting really chummy with him. "So, let me give you a tour around the place. Since this will be your home for the next few months." Dipper felt like he was going to pass out at those words. Months, he would be here for months. If he was going to be in the theater for months that meant he had rented out a room, and the only room available was the one across from his own. Sure, he had been ready for a random stranger to sleep in that room, but it wasn't a stranger, it was Bill Cipher. Life really hated him.

**Author's Note:**

> This is a repost. I saw that someone was looking for this story and I felt bad for deleting it in the first place. I'll be editing the other chapters a bit here and there. I was honestly surprised someone liked this fic. I should have been more considerate. I'm really sorry.


End file.
